Barren and wasteland
Topic: Land Use, Farming Systems and Cropping Seasons in India · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 3 "Land Resources and Agriculture"
Meaning
Barren and wasteland is land that cannot be farmed with the technology we have today. It includes barren hills, deserts and ravines. It is one of the nine land-use categories in India's land records. Its share of reporting area fell between 1950-51 and 2019-20, because the need for land to farm and to build on kept growing.
Example
Rocky hills, the sand dunes of the Thar Desert in western Rajasthan and the deep ravines of the Chambal valley are barren and wasteland. None of them can be farmed with available methods.
Don't confuse with
- Culturable wasteland: this land has been left unfarmed for more than 5 years, but it can be reclaimed and farmed. Barren land cannot be farmed with available technology.
Related concepts
- Reporting area
- Land use categories
- Area classified as forest
- Land put to non-agricultural uses
- Permanent pastures and grazing land
- Culturable wasteland
- Current fallow
- Fallow other than current fallow
- Net sown area